Global city explained

A global city, also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center, is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that globalization has created a hierarchy of strategic geographic locations with varying degrees of influence over finance, trade, and culture worldwide.[1] The global city represents the most complex and significant hub within the international system, characterized by links binding it to other cities that have direct, tangible effects on global socioeconomic affairs.[2]

The criteria of a global city vary depending on the source.[3] Common features include a high degree of urban development, a large population, the presence of major multinational companies, a significant and globalized financial sector, a well-developed and internationally linked transportation infrastructure, local or national economic dominance, high quality educational and research institutions, and a globally influential output of ideas, innovations, or cultural products. Quintessential examples, based on most indices and research, include New York City, London, Paris, and Tokyo.

Origin and terminology

The term 'global city' was popularized by sociologist Saskia Sassen in her 1991 book, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.[4] Before then, other terms were used for urban centers with roughly the same features. The term 'world city', meaning a city heavily involved in global trade, appeared in a May 1886 description of Liverpool, by The Illustrated London News;[5] British sociologist and geographer Patrick Geddes used the term in 1915.[6] The term 'megacity' entered common use in the late 19th or early 20th century, the earliest known example being a publication by the University of Texas in 1904.[7] In the 21st century, the terms are usually focused on a city's financial power and high technology infrastructure.[8] [9]

Criteria

Competing groups have devised competing means to classify and rank world cities and to distinguish them from other cities. Although there is a consensus on the leading world cities,[10] the chosen criteria affect which other cities are included. Selection criteria may be based on a yardstick value (e.g., if the producer-service sector is the largest sector then city is a world city) or on an imminent determination (if the producer-service sector of city is greater than the combined producer-service sectors of other cities then city is a world city.) Although criteria are variable and fluid, typical characteristics of world cities include:[11]

General rankings

Global city rankings are numerous.[14] New York City, London, Tokyo, and Paris are the most commonly mentioned.[15] [16]

GaWC study

See main article: article and Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

Jon Beaverstock, Richard G. Smith, and Peter J. Taylor established the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC). They rank world cities by their connectivity through four "advanced producer services": accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law.[10] The GaWC inventory identifies three levels of global cities and several sub-ranks,[17] although the authors caution that "concern for city rankings operates against the spirit of the GaWC project" .[18] The 2004 rankings added several new indicators while continuing to rank city-economics more heavily than political and cultural factors. The 2008 version of the list, similar to the 1998 version, is sorted into categories of Alpha world cities (with four sub-categories), Beta world cities (three sub-categories), Gamma world cities (three sub-categories), and cities with High sufficiency and Sufficiency presence. The cities in the top three classifications in the 2022 edition are:[19]

Alpha ++

Alpha +

Alpha

Global Cities Index (Kearney)

In 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy, working with the consulting firm A.T. Kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, published a ranking of global cities based on consultation with Saskia Sassen, Witold Rybczynski, and others.[20] Foreign Policy noted that "the world's biggest, most interconnected cities help set global agendas, weather transnational dangers, and serve as the hubs of global integration. They are the engines of growth for their countries and the gateways to the resources of their regions."[21] The ranking is based on 27 metrics across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.[22] Since 2015, it has been published with a separate index, the Global Cities Outlook, which is a projection of a city's potential based on rate of change in 13 indicators across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance. The top ranked cities in 2023 are:[23]

  1. New York City
  2. London
  3. Paris
  4. Tokyo
  5. Beijing
  6. Brussels
  7. Singapore
  8. Los Angeles
  9. Melbourne
  10. Hong Kong

Global Cities Index (Oxford Economics)

Advisory firm Oxford Economics released its Global Cities Index in 2024, ranking the world's largest 1,000 cities based on 27 indicators across five categories (economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance) with more weight on economic factors. The top ranked cities in 2024 are:[24]

  1. New York City
  2. London
  3. San Jose
  4. Tokyo
  5. Paris
  6. Seattle
  7. Los Angeles
  8. San Francisco
  9. Melbourne
  10. Zurich

Global Economic Power Index

The Global Economic Power Index reflecting three dimensions of economic power was introduced in 2012.[25] In 2015, the second Global Economic Power Index, a meta list compiled by Richard Florida, was published by The Atlantic (distinct from a namesake list published by the Martin Prosperity Institute), with city composite rank based on five other lists.[26] [27] The top global cities in 2015 are:

  1. New York City
  2. London
  3. Tokyo
  4. Hong Kong
  5. Paris
  6. Singapore
  7. Los Angeles
  8. Seoul
  9. Vienna
  10. Stockholm & Toronto

Global Power City Index

The Tokyo-based Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation, issued a study of global cities in 2008. They are ranked in six categories: economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment, and accessibility, with 70 individual indicators among them. The top ten world cities are also ranked by subjective categories, including manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident.[28] [29] The top 10 cities in 2023 are:[28]

  1. London
  2. New York City
  3. Tokyo
  4. Paris
  5. Singapore
  6. Amsterdam
  7. Seoul
  8. Dubai
  9. Melbourne
  10. Berlin

Financial rankings

Global Financial Centres Index

See main article: Global Financial Centres Index. Strength as a financial center has become one of the pre-eminent indicators of a global city's ranking. As of 2024,[30] the cities representing the top ten financial centers according to the Global Financial Centres Index by the think tank China Development Institute and analytics firm Z/Yen are:[31]

  1. New York City
  2. London
  3. Singapore
  4. Hong Kong
  5. San Francisco
  6. Shanghai
  7. Geneva
  8. Los Angeles
  9. Chicago
  10. Seoul

The Wealth Report

Estate agent Knight Frank LLP and the Citi Private Bank publish The Wealth Report, which includes a "Global Cities Survey", evaluating the most important cities to high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs, having over $25 million of investable assets each). Criteria are economic activity, political power, knowledge and influence, and quality of life.[32] [33] The most important cities to UHNWIs in 2022 are:[34]

  1. London
  1. Paris & New York City
  1. Los Angeles
  1. Tokyo
  1. Chicago
  1. Singapore
  1. Hong Kong
  1. Toronto
  1. Beijing

Social rankings

The World's Most Talked About Cities

London-based built environment communications firm ING Media ranked 250 cities by total online mentions across social media and online news. A fifth of digital mentions were for Tokyo, New York City, London, and Paris, identifying these as the world's super brands.[35] Top cities in the 2019 edition are:[36]

  1. Tokyo
  2. New York City
  3. London
  4. Paris
  5. Madrid
  6. Dubai
  7. Rome
  8. Barcelona
  9. Seoul
  10. Osaka

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Lenormand . Maxime . Gonçalves . Bruno . Tugores . Antònia . Ramasco . José J. . Human diffusion and city influence . . 2015 . 12 . 109 . 20150473 . 10.1098/rsif.2015.0473 . 26179991 . 4535413 . free.
  2. 503 . Sassen . Saskia . The global city: strategic site/new frontier . https://web.archive.org/web/20061018200419/http://www.india-seminar.com/2001/503/503%20saskia%20sassen.htm . 18 October 2006 . July 2001 . Seminar Magazine . live .
  3. Web site: global city . 2022-10-20 . Britannica . en . 20 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221020155031/https://www.britannica.com/topic/global-city . live .
  4. Sassen, Saskia. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. 1991. Princeton University Press. . .
  5. Web site: 18 December 2009 . The Empire in One City? Liverpool's Inconvenient Imperial Past . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120623124607/http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/737 . 23 June 2012 . 9 May 2012 . Reviews in History . John . Belchem .
  6. Doel, M., & Hubbard, P., (2002), "Taking World Cities Literally: Marketing the City in a Global Space of flows", City, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 351–368. Subscription required.
  7. Book: Hemisfile: Perspectives on Political and Economic Trends in the Americas . 1994 . Institute of the Americas . en.
  8. News: 15 February 2015 . Asian Cities Pay Hidden Price for Global Status . The Diplomat . live . 25 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160201130228/https://thediplomat.com/2015/02/asian-cities-pay-hidden-price-for-global-status/ . 1 February 2016.
  9. News: 14 August 2014 . The World's Most Influential Cities . Forbes . live . 29 August 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170905084618/https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2014/08/14/the-most-influential-cities-in-the-world#7bbf56cb7370 . 5 September 2017.
  10. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb5.html GaWC Research Bulletin 5
  11. Pashley, Rosemary. "HSC Geography". Pascal Press, 2000, p.164
  12. J.V. Beaverstock, World City Networks 'From Below', GaWC, Loughborough University, 29 September 2010
  13. K. O'Connor, International Students and Global Cities, GaWC, Loughborough University, 17 February 2005
  14. Web site: Decoding City Performance. Jll.co.uk. 2 April 2019 . en. 16 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191016212712/https://www.jll.co.uk/en/trends-and-insights/research/decoding-city-performance. 16 October 2019. live.
  15. Web site: Struggling Giants . University of Minnesota Press . 31 December 2020 . en . 17 January 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210117230114/https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/struggling-giants . live .
  16. Book: Abrahamson . Mark . Global cities . 2004 . Oxford University Press . New York . 978-0195142044 . 4 . 1st . 9 January 2021 . 11 January 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210111074627/http://faculty.tamuc.edu/jsun/global%20cities.pdf . live .
  17. "The World According to GaWC ". GaWC. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  18. Web site: Taylor . P.J. . Measuring the World City Network: New Results and Developments . 1 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180929065954/http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb300.html . 29 September 2018 . live.
  19. Web site: The World According to GaWC 2022 . Twitter . Globalization and World Cities . 24 May 2022 .
  20. Web site: 2012 Global Cities Index and Emerging Cities Outlook . PDF . 9 May 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131020223227/http://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/dfedfc4c-8a62-4162-90e5-2a3f14f0da3a . 20 October 2013.
  21. The 2008 Global Cities Index . . November/December 2008 . 21 October 2008 . 31 October 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100107184223/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4509 . 7 January 2010 . dmy-all.
  22. Web site: Read @ATKearney: Una Cuestión de Talento: Cómo el Capital Humano Determinará los Próximos Líderes Mundiales . Atkearney.com . en-US . 16 October 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191220065230/https://www.atkearney.com/global-cities/2019 . 20 December 2019 . live.
  23. Web site: The distributed geography of opportunity: the 2023 Global Cities Report. Kearney . 9 March 2024.
  24. Web site: New York, London Top Oxford Economics Ranking of 1,000 Global Cities . 2024-05-21 . Bloomberg . May 21, 2024 . Alex . Millson .
  25. News: What Is the World's Most Economically Powerful City?. . 10 March 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150310143126/http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/what-is-the-worlds-most-economically-powerful-city/256841/ . 10 March 2015 .
  26. Web site: Sorry, London: New York Is the World's Most Economically Powerful City. Richard Florida. The Atlantic Monthly Group. 3 March 2015. 16 March 2015. Our new ranking puts the Big Apple firmly on top.. https://web.archive.org/web/20150314002727/http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/03/sorry-london-new-york-is-the-worlds-most-economically-powerful-city/386315/. 14 March 2015. dead.
  27. Web site: The Top 10 most powerful cities in the world. Yahoo! India Finance. 11 May 2012. 19 June 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130318162555/http://in.finance.yahoo.com/photos/the-top-10-most-powerful-cities-in-the-world-slideshow/a-photo-1336730318.html. 18 March 2013. live.
  28. Web site: Global Power City Index 2023 . The Mori Memorial Foundation . 9 November 2023. 9 November 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231109215341/https://www.mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/ius2/gpci2/ . live .
  29. Web site: Inoue . Yukana . 2023-11-09 . Tokyo remains third in global power index despite downturn . 2024-07-09 . The Japan Times . en.
  30. Web site: The Global Financial Centres Index 35 .
  31. Web site: GFCI 34 Rank . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230928132949/https://www.longfinance.net/programmes/financial-centre-futures/global-financial-centres-index/gfci-34-explore-the-data/gfci-34-rank/ . 28 September 2023 . 28 September 2023.
  32. Web site: The Wealth Report 2015. Knight Frank LLP. 18 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150618062302/http://www.knightfrank.com/wealthreport/2015/global-cities. 18 June 2015. dead.
  33. Web site: Global Cities Survey. 18 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150323081951/http://www.knightfrank.com/resources/wealthreport2015/wealthpdf/04-wealth-report-global-cities-chapter.pdf. 23 March 2015. live.
  34. Web site: Knight Frank: City Wealth Index. 20 June 2023. 20 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230620074853/https://en.ac-mos.ru/ratings/knight-frank-city-wealth-index/. live.
  35. Web site: Tokyo world's most talked about city online. Fdiintelligence.com. en-GB. 1 February 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200201133639/https://www.fdiintelligence.com/News/Tokyo-world-s-most-talked-about-city-online. 1 February 2020. live.
  36. Web site: The World's Most Talked About Cities. ING Media - Property PR Architecture PR Strategic communications for the BUILT ENVIRONMENT. en-US. 23 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191223121445/https://www.ing-media.com/features/the-worlds-most-talked-about-cities. 23 December 2019. live.

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